52 Jake's on Fabric...

I had seen this idea on Pinterest in many different variations and decided to do it my way, which was 95% like one of the versions I had seen.

What I really liked about it was that, for one, you could see the growth week by week of your sweet baby, making an incredible memorabilia, as well as that you could pull out all those sentimental blankets and have a snapshot with each. 

I got in a lull and had to play catch up once, around Christmas, and again around St. Patty’s/Easter, but the rest are pretty true to their ages. The 52 weeks was actually a couple weeks after his birthday and the 50/51 weeks were closer to 52 weeks. I did start using props on white rather than swapping backgrounds and I wish I would have stuck with swapping the backgrounds, but too late now.

Some people buy stickers with ages, or onsies with ages on them, some people write ages on paper or chalkboards/whiteboards and set them next to their kiddos. The suggestion on one post was to wear a white onsie each time and then go back through and add the age in Photoshop. This is what I chose to do. A friend did her weekly picture just in a diaper on the changing table and I really liked that as well. 

Our Hungry Little Caterpillar turns ONE!!!!!!

A one year update....

 "Happy 1st Birthday Jakers! 

18#.03oz 27" long (I have gained 9lbs exactly & 8") I wear 3-6 month onsies, 6-9 month pants, size 2 shoes, and size 3 diapers loosely. My take home outfit still fits.
Today I went to the Dr, I have strep throat with a nasty fever for my birthday.

Favorite Foods: Crackers & chicken nuggets
Favorite Toys (other than the touch screens): Fake Flip Phone & laugh & learn line
Favorite Apps: Laugh & Learn Apps with the Monkey & Puppy, Toca Boca Hair Salon2
Favorite Nursery Rhyme: Pat-A-Cake
Favorite Spot: HIS little blue recliner chair
Favorite Texture: Fleece tied blankets
Favorite Sounds: Universal Studios movie intros, Fisher Price App intro, mom's voice
Favorite Passtimes: hanging with my fam, bike rides, walks, water play, touchscreens, climbing as high as I can, eating the great outdoors & definitely NOT long car rides!!"

It turns out Jake is allergic to lactose and soy and has bad acid reflux causing his 8 poopy diapers a day. The combination puts him in the 2nd percentile for both weight and height. He is in the 95th percentile for head circumference though. This means he is not failing to thrive. We did put him on prilosec and almond milk though and he did gain a pound, almost two in 2 weeks!!

He loved his birthday breakfast!!!

He got his very own Jake & the Neverland Pirates bag chair for all our upcoming camping trips and ball games and a Hungry Caterpillar toy with pockets for the food.

We ended up having to postpone his party due to both him and mommy not feeling well. This changed the attendance slightly, but we still had a lot of fun. I forgot to put out some of the food as I had stuck it in random places in the fridge and freezer when we postponed the party. And wouldn't you know the printer wouldn't work to print the cute hungry caterpillar tags and labels, so I had to write my own.

I had wanted to do these invites.....

But ended up doing these instead as I ran out of time to make and deliver the others......

The Plans......

 The decorations.....

Sign in Table
Pregnancy Book, Newborn Photo Book, Birth Announcement, Basket of Bug Catching Supplies, Skittles jar with #1 candle, Guess How Many Gummie "Caterpillars" jar, Hungry Caterpillar to Sign (& some other random stuff I didn't notice the kids had put there when I took the picture).

I can trade out the #1 for each child's number in future years.

Jake's Little Blue Recliner he loves to sit in was his present opening chair decorated in Hungry Caterpillar fabric & stuffies.

I had also wanted to do....

But as I noted, my printer quit on me so I couldn't print anything & I ran out of time on the rest.

The food.....

(forgot to put out :( )

The Head was Jake's Cake Smash Cake & was supposed to have Red frosting, but at the last minute I noticed it contained Soy, which Jake is allergic to, so I left it off which made an easier cleanup but I still felt bad.

Ooops, someone left their plate out....

The games.....

Hungry Caterpillar Friend Poster:

Decorating Bug Catchers & Going on a Bug Hunt:

Fruit Toss:

Sticky Table (source):

For some reason I didn't get my own photo of this, except this one...

The Guessing Jar:

(Somehow Andy won ;) ;) He won the whole jar but had to share some with party guests)

The Cake Smash.....

The presents.....

The crew......

The budget.....

I went a little overboard with this theme as I had been waiting to do it for so long and wanted to do so many things for it.

Food: strawberries $6, plums $1.50, pears $1.50, watermelon $5, cake & frosting & Wilton food color $5, lollipops $12, ice cream cones $2, sandwiches $8, cherry pies $2, brownies (chocolate cake) $2, meat, cheese and pickles $5, lettuce $3,   ($53)

Activities: paint $4, foam stickers $4, bug nets $4, aprons $3, bugs $4, fruit for toss $3, contact paper & eyes for sticky table $5, poster board $1, balloons $5, already had markers and cardboard  ($33)

Specialties: Jake's Shirt & bib & hat $20, headband & wings $2, bags, cup & cutlery $4, ipod case $15, chair $8, caterpillar toy $20, banner fabric & ribbon $10, wooden number $2  ($76)

I went just over my $150 budget with this one. I will be able to reuse the birthday banner for each birthday and just change out the number. By taking the cost of it off, I am right at $150. That is my justification ;)

Birthday Bucketlist CHECK. Highly Successful Birthday in the books.